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BASIC Rating:   (out of 5 stars)Director: John McTiernan Producers: Mike Medavoy, Arie Messer, James Vanderbilt, Michael Tadross Writer: James Vanderbilt Director of Photography: Steve Mason Cast: John Travolta, Connie Nielsen and Samuel L. Jackson Visit the IMDB page for full cast and crew. |
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Review by: Ryan
Kugler
3/30/03
For those of you going to see Basic (is this title missing a word or two or am I crazy?) in anticipation of catching Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield back in action, you will be sorely disappointed. Yes, both John Travolta and (to a lesser extent) Samuel L. Jackson appear together again in this mostly standard military procedural, but like DeNiro and Pacino in Heat, their exchanges are minimal.
In fact, everything here is pretty minimal including the plot, the acting efforts and the running time, yet I couldn't help but be somewhat entertained and intrigued by the effort. That's probably due to the many twists and turns (including a cool, though implausible ending worthy of Mamet) that fly fast and furiously throughout. I imagine that by the time the tenth and final twist occurs, most people will have long given up on caring about what happens, but I looked at the whole thing as a puzzle that needed to be solved and I liked the final piece.
Travolta stars as Tom Hardy, ex-Army Ranger, current DEA agent who's called in to interrogate the only two survivors of a training mission gone horribly awry. He is teamed with Capt. Osborne (Connie Nielson) and the two are charged with getting to the bottom of what happened to Ranger Sgt. Nathan West (Jackson) and his team (most of whom were brutally killed somewhere near the Panama Canal). Through the wildly divergent recollections of the two survivors (Giovanni Ribisi and Brian Van Holt) we see flashbacks to what may or may not have happened during the doomed mission.
In the "what's new" dept., Travolta is way over-the-top and therefore, hard to take seriously. I think that it's time he seek out some more career advice from Quentin or he's going to find himself back in Look Who's Talking movies. In his brief role, Jackson is in full Louis Gossett Jr. mode as the tough-taking Sgt., who nevertheless comes off as ridiculous due to the Darth Vador looking get-up that he's saddled with (and if these are official Ranger duds, then I apologize to that elite unit of the Army). As for the rest of the majors, Nielson tries on more accents than Costner in Robin Hood and Ribisi channels Dr. Evil in what may be the strangest supporting role of the year so far.
John McTiernan, a director who I once admired, but who has since gone on to basically sabotage his career, helmed the film. McTiernan (the Cuba Gooding Jr. of directors) started out with arguably three of the best genre film of the 80s (Die Hard, Predator, The Hunt for Red October), but has never come close to regaining his glory. This is actually a nice way of saying that he's made nothing but shit ever since those action classics (Last Action Hero, 13th Warrior and Rollerball are just some of the proof). While Basic is leagues away from his 80s output, it's probably his best since the worm turned.
So, Basic is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, it's nothing but a gimmick film with some wildly divergent styles of acting, while on the other, it's a neat and efficient little whodunit that keeps you guessing (usually incorrectly) until the slam bang ending. It's better than I anticipated, but I couldn't sleep at night if I gave it a full recommendation. If you have any expectations at all, lower them and you'll be OK.
Since I've never been quoted in the newspaper (unlike one of our writers), I figured I'd give it a shot (especially since this film can apparently use some good quotes). "Basic is the best military thriller to feature an ex-television star in a leading role since Tears of the Sun."
(A Sony Pictures release. Opened in wide release on March 28, 2003.)
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